Sweet and Sour

Saturday saw the Pontypool faithful make the trip to our deadly rivals at Bedwas. These are the "upstarts" who have taken our place in the Premiership, we moan. When all is said and done, their playing record over the last few years has been superior to ours. Although their ground facilities and support are clearly inferior they seem to have been able to live a charmed life when it comes to meeting the WRU's criteria for the standard of their ground. This coupled with pitiful home match attendances have really rankled with their rivals from the Dragon's region in Pontypool, Ebbw Vale and beyond. This season Bedwas have struggled and Pontypool find themselves just three points behind them in the table with a game in hand. Having beaten Bedwas at the Park, here was a chance for Pooler to finish above them in the league and gain some bragging rights if nothing else.
The mood for the afternoon was set when we glanced at the programme notes before the match. The Bedwas Chairman was scathing about Pooler's attempts to protect their Premier League status intimating that we should take our summary execution like men. I wonder what Bedwas would have done in the same circumstances. There was also some amazing criticism of the referee for their last match which really should get some censure from the WRU. We rather hoped the "referee's union" would have seen it.
We filed into the ground through the usual gap in the hedge and were immediately greeted by the much trumpeted and very late ground improvements. A very temporary looking stand had been erected on the far side of the ground which was reminiscent of a rather large gazebo. In addition a new porch was in the process of being erected in front of the club. All very impressive but this was meant to be in place a year ago. We took our place in the original shed and it was immediately obvious that virtually everyone present was from Pontypool. The normal greeting to the opposition team and supporters over the tannoy was conspicuous by its absence. Bedwas were clearly feeling smug about their guaranteed premiership status.
So to the match. Pontypool certainly wanted to win this one and were well on top in the first half. In truth they should have put the game away before the end of the half but missed a few kicks at goal and bombed a few clear try scoring opportunities. Nevertheless a fine individual try by Robinson gave Pooler a narrow 0-5 lead. The first half was marred by a nasty injury to Williams, the Bedwas lock, with the players actually leaving the field while he was being attended to towards the end of the half. It was almost like having two half time breaks.
Bedwas started the second second half with a spell of pressure after Pooler failed to field the kick off but failed to make any impression on the scoreboard. Pooler seemed to gain confidence from this and hit back strongly with two tries and a penalty. The first try was scored by Robinson following a kick and chase and was followed by, "That try might have been scored by Dan Robinson," over the tannoy. The second was scored by Williams on the wing after a well judged kick by outside half Hancock. Pooler were flying and looking for a winning bonus point. Unfortunately the usual round of substitutions disrupted their rhythm and gave Bedwas the opportunity to gain some momentum. Bedwas scored a couple of tries and the gap closed to ten points and Pooler started to look nervous and Bedwas smelled blood. A penalty that widened the gap to 12-25 helped to settle the nerves but Bedwas continued to finish strongly and a losing bonus point was certainly in their grasp. This aspiration took a nosedive when an unnecessary punch in plain view of the officials led to a red card for Ryan. Even the very harsh last minute red card for Robinson for an alleged tip tackle could not prevent Pooler from recording their first victory at Bedwas in a long time and yes, elevating them above Bedwas in the league table. Even the sarcastic, "Good luck to Pontypool in the Chamionship next season,'  over the tannoy did not spoil a well earned victory.
But what of the fight to save our Premiership status? The members all received a letter informing us that we intend to fight this injustice in court. We were asked to buy our season tickets early to help fund the legal costs. I cannot help feeling that this is too late in the day and we do not have the fire power to take on the might of the WRU. I also worrying about spending money that we can ill afford to lose but there again we need to stand up for ourselves. It still remains ridiculous that the WRU are starting their reforms in the middle of the league pyramid rather than at regional level where the problems really are. Yet again we read of financial meltdown in the regions and a poor Heineken cup showing. It remains a mystery how the Welsh team have managed to play so well. We also hear that a "Valleys" region based on Pontypridd has been proposed. This would be a great embarrassment to the WRU as they would probably get much better attendances than the coastal regional clubs.
Pooler must just soldier on. A win against Newport would be most welcome and there is still a possibility of finishing above them and also Swansea if we can follow this up with a win over Llanelli. We have had a number of "great escapes" on the field over the last few years that have kept us in the Premiership but alas I fear we are going to lose this battle off the field - this cannot be right.